HD Pavilion is A Huge Success

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The HD (High Definition Television) Pavilion was the centerpiece of the exhibition floor at The National Show, the 52nd annual conference and exhibition of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in Chicago. CableLabs® and the NCTA co-sponsored the 8,000-square-foot display, which encompassed HD content, technology, gaming, and business.

Cable '03 attendees crowd the home theater area of HD Pavilion to hear
Comcast Chicago General Manger Joe Stackhouse during the
Comcast news conference announcing formal introduction of
high definition service into Chicago.

The HD Pavilion was designed to showcase the ever-increasing HD content from cable networks and broadcast outlets, as well as a variety of digital HD television sets, monitors, and other consumer electronics equipment produced by manufacturers involved in the "plug-and-play" digital TV transition. The Pavilion was comprised of five areas:

• The ultimate home theater with the largest HDTV plasma television available and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
• Multiple living rooms with a variety of displays, including HD video-on-demand (VOD), HD personal video recorders (PVRs), and Microsoft's Xbox gaming console system in high-definition.
• A tutorial center showcased the latest point of deployment (POD)-enabled sets from Samsung, LG Electronics and Panasonic; and demonstrated, side-by-side, the differences among analog TV, standard-definition TV, and HDTV. Displays also explained the various digital formats; the connectors that come standardized in cable-ready devices; and the components of 5C copy protection.
• A retail store exhibit with the latest HDTV displays and HD set-top boxes from consumer electronics manufacturers, which featured a varied array of display formats including rear projection, plasma, direct view and more. This area also showcased the all-new CableLabs Go2Broadband(SM) HDTV service locator.
• A video lounge where attendees relaxed and viewed all of the best HDTV content available on television on two large rings of plasma TVs.

An aerial view of the OpenCable Point of Deployment (POD) area in the
HD Pavilion at Cable '03. The integrated televisions shown, with POD slots
in their backs, are from Samsung, LG Electronics, and Panasonic.

Immediately adjacent to the HD Pavilion was the production truck of HDNet, which produced live-from-the-floor, high-definition programming.

Programmer participants included:

• HBO High Definition
• Cinemax High Definition
• Showtime Networks, Inc.
• Discovery HD Theater
• ESPN HD
• A&E Television Networks
• The History Channel
• Madison Square Garden Networks
• Bravo HD+
• Comcast SportsNet HDTV
• HDNet
• Public Broadcasting Service
• ABC
• CBS
• The WB/WGN

• Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.
• Sony Electronics
• Scientific-Atlanta
• Microsoft
• Philips Consumer Electronics
• Motorola Broadband Communications Sector
• Zenith Electronics Corp
• nCUBE
• Thomson
• Sharp
• Pace Micro Technology Americas
• Panasonic
• SeaChange International
• CommScope
• Samsung
• Pioneer
• Mitsubishi
• Sencore
• Hitachi
• JVC
• The Guitammer Company, Inc.
• Wegener Communications

An aerial view of the central part of the HD Pavilion at Cable '03.

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